Rail-clamp.



No. 703,430. Patented 'july l, |902..

w. c. LEE@ n. F. Moons AAAAAAAA P.

d Nov. so, 1901.;

v'UNITED v STATES Pn-frinxrrv OFFICE;

WILLIS C. LEE MILES F. MOORE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAI L-C LAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 703,430, dated July 1, 1902.

I Application tiled November 30, 190i.. Serial No. 84,256. (No model.)

To ctZLwwm t may concern:

Be itvknow'n that we,WILLIS.C. LEE and MILES F.MooRE,citizensof the United States,

residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and Stateof Illinois, haveinvented a new and usef ful Rail-Clamp,jof which the following'is a' specification in its best .form now known to us, reference beinghadltoth'e accompanying drawings, in which similar characters indicate the same parts throughout the several views.

Our inventiourelates to clamps for use on railroad-rails, and particularly to a clamp for securing the guard-.rail to the main rail. For

convenience in description it is therefore shown and will be described as a guard-rail clamp; but this is not to be 'construed as limiting or narrowing the scope ofthe invention.

The object of our invention is to secure the guard-rail'to theimain rail atv any desiredpoint' by an adjustable Vfastening which 1 will when loosened permitofthedistance between the rails being varied and Vwhich, when tightened'will holdv the rails securely in the de.-

sired position, While'maintaining the verti cal center lines of therails substantially'parallel.

One great objection toguard-rail clamps heretofore used is that most, it' not all, of them have been so constructed that as they are tightened the tops of the rails are sprung away from each other into. a position which" is not desired and which frequently causes accidents to trains.

Our invention consists in a clamp capable of accomplishing the above objectsand'hav ing the above advantages which can be easily and cheaply constructed and applied to the rails.

It also consists in other advantages in de-v tails of construction, hereinafter more fully described and claimed. f

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view,-

partially in section, of a clamp, illustrating our invention applied to a rail and guard-rail 'nut 17 may be secured in the desired position ,by a fcotter 19 of ordinary construction or equivalent mechanism. Some other device-` as, for instance, a turnbuckle having'thetension properties of a bolt-'may besubstituted for the bolt without departing from the broad ,principleof our invention, and in the same way other means of tightening the bolt than thenut may be used.

Between the rails 10 and 11 is a fairly broad main spacing-block orseparator 20,` preferably having depending from it a loop 21, em-

bracing the bolt 14, so that the block will not slipllengthwise of the rails. We-also provide three narrower spacing-blocks or separators 22,23, and 24, of different widths, so that each one when used between the rails with block 2O will make the distance betweenthe Vrails different fromr what lit'isjwhen Aanother of the three blocks' is so used. The railsmay be used with one, two, or three of lthese blocks 22,23, and 24 between the rails, as'desired.

yTheblocks not so used between the rails are always placed outside the rails, as shown, so that whatever the location of these three blocks, as just indicated, the total thickness of spacing-blocks 2O 22 23 24 and the webs 25 and 26 will be a constant quantity.

In-the preferred form of construction the twofclamp-jaws 15 are made just alike, preferably from the same pattern, and have lower arms 27 meeting at 28, a fixed distance below the center-line A of bolt 14, the center of pressure being in the lineB B. These clamps also Ahave upper arms 29, bearing against the combined spacing-blocks and rail-webs def-scribed in the last paragraph above, the ceu- .ter ofpressure being in the line C C, which is lsubstantially as far from line A as line B B fis, so that the strain produced by tightening bolt 14 is communicated equallytovthe upper and lower arms just described,and as the horizontal length of the two arms 29 and the combined thickness of blocks 20, 22, 23, and 24 and webs 25 and 2G is equal to the length of IOO the two lower arms 27 taken together this relation is practically undisturbed as the bolt is tightened.

It is manifest that if the adjustable feature is not desired the blocks 22, 23, and 24 may be entirely omitted and the proportions of the block 2O and the lengths of arms 15 be readjusted in the making, so as to make up for their absence, the block 20 filling the entire spacing distance between the rails and the arms 29 bearing directly against the other sides of the webs of the rails. It is also manifest that by properly proportioning the parts for strength the distance from the lines A to B and A to C may be varied as the whim of the designer may dictate without departing from the broad principle of our invention.

One particular advantage obtained by the construction herein described is that it is unnecessary to bore holes in the rails, an expensive process when the rails are in place and trains are passing frequently.

In the operation of our invention we have all the parts which are shown in the drawings made by usual processes and take them to the place where the guard-rail is to be applied to a main rail. If the spacing of rails shown in the drawings is the one desired, we.

arrange all the parts as shown in the drawings and tighten the bolt 14 until everything is secure. If it is desired to place the rails farther apart, we transpose spacers 23 and 22, and if a narrower spacing is desired we transpose spacers 24 and 22, of course loosening or removing the bolt 14 while the substitution is being made.

We do not wish to be understood as limiting ourselves to the details of construction described and shown. These may be varied within reasonable limits without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a rail-clamp, in combination with the rails to be clamped, one or more spacingblocks between or adjacent to the webs of said rails, a pair of clamp-jaws each bearing against said combined rail-webs and spacing block or blocks, passing around the outside of the rail and meeting the other jaw below the rail, and means connecting said jaws between the said bearing-points and below the rails for tightening said jaws, for the purposes set forth.

2. In a rail-clamp, in combination with the rails to be clamped, one or more spacingblocks between the webs of the rails, a bolt below the rails, a pair of clamp-jaws on said bolt, having upper arms bearing against the combined spacing block or blocks and railwebs, and lower arms bearing against each other at a point below said bolt, the total length of the upper arms, spacing block or blocks and rail-webs being approximately the sum of the length of the two lower arms, for the purposes set forth.

3. In a rail-clamp, in combination with the rails to be clamped, a series of transferable spacing-blocks adjacent to the webs of said rails, a bolt passing below said rails, and a pair of clamp-jaws on said bolts, having upper arms bearing against said combined spacing-blocks and rail-webs and lower arms bearing against each other at a point below said bolt, the total length of the upper arms, spacing-blocks and rail-webs being approximately the sum of the length of the lower arms, for the purposes set forth.

4. In a rail-clamp, in combination with the rails to be clamped, a series of transferable spacing-blocks between and adjacent to the webs of said rails, a bolt passing below said rails and a pair of clamp-jaws on said bolts, having upper arms bearing against said combined spacing-blocks and rail-webs, and lower arms bearing against each other at a point below the center line of the bolt, approximately equal to the distance the center of the spacing-blocks and rails is above the center of the bolt, for the purposes set forth.

5. In a rail-clamp, in combination with the rails to be clamped, a series of transferable spacing-blocks between and adjacent to the webs of said rails, the total thickness of the 9 webs of the rails and the spacing-blocks being substantially the same in all positions of the spacing-blocks, a bolt passing below the ianges of said rails, a pair of clamp-jaws on said bolts, having upper arms bearing against said combined spacing-blocks and rail-webs, and lower arms bearing against each other at a point below the center of the bolt, substantially equal to the distance of the center of the spacing-block from the center of the bolt, for the purposes set forth.

6. In a rail-clamp, in combination with the rails to be clamped, the spacing-blocks 20, 22, 23, and 24, the bolt 14 below the rails, the clamp-jaws l5, having the upper arms 29 bearing against the combined spacing-blocks and rail-webs and the lower arms 27 bearing against each other, all of the parts being arranged and disposed substantially as shown and described, for the purposes set forth.

WILLIS O. LEE. MILES F. MOORE.

Witnesses:

ROBERTA LEE TERRY, DWIGHT B. CHEEvER.

IOO 

